France loans Egypt 3.2B euros to help military equipments deal: Sisi

CAIRO: President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi announced that the French government gave Egypt a loan of 3.2 billion Euros ($3.58 billion dollars) as a contribution in the latest military equipment deal signed between the two countries.

He added in an interview with Al-Arabia television channel Saturday night that many Gulf States supported Egypt during the past 4 years, as “we were going through difficult economic conditions affected by the revolutions.”

Sisi denied during the interview that all of the aid would only be for military forces, assuring that any talks about “not aiding the poor people in Egypt are completely ‘untrue.’”

French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian visited Egypt in February with other French officials to sign a deal on the sale of 24 Rafale fighter jets, a naval frigate and related military equipments.

The 5.9 billion euro deal was first planned during Sisi’s visit to France in November when he discussed ways to upgrade Egypt’s fleet of 18 French Mirage jets.

The deal was seen as essential step towards enhancing Egypt’s situation to confront ‘terrorist threats’ especially in N. Sinai and neighborhood countries that faces unrest including Libya and Yemen.